Caroline Dinenage, MP

Tranport Minister flies in

Lee on the Solent has just had its first visit from the Coalition Government, as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport came to see for himself the challenges this area faces.

Mike Penning met Caroline at the Daedalus and were able to have a tour of the Marine and Coastguard facility which is based on the site. Highlight of the tour was a helicopter ride. Caroline said 'it was a really useful exercise to meet Mike, it is important that a minister has seen the area and been able to hear about the challenges first hand.'

Caroline and Mike Penning prepare for the off

Moving Daedalus Forward

One of the major issues affecting the area is undoubtedly the questions marks currently surrounding the future of the Daedalus site.

Caroline has wasted little in time in getting to grips with moving the development of Daedalus forward. Last Friday Caroline and her team (which included leader of Gosport Borough Council Mark Hook and Deputy Leader of Fareham Borough Fareham Council Arthur Mandry), met with SEEDA officials to discuss the way forward.

In what could prove to be a major breakthrough in the long running saga that is Daedalus. Caroline got SEEDA to agree to a summit involving all the key players (SEEDA, Gosport Borough Council, Fareham Borough Council, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Hampshire Police) meeting to discuss ways of moving the development of Daedalus forward so the site maximises its enormous potential.

Caroline said 'it is a complicated site in which lots of different organisations have a stake, it seems obvious to me that we need to get all the major stakeholders around a table and work together to find solutions to the obstacles which are preventing the site being developed to create jobs and boost the local economy.'